“Israel and the Palestinian Authority are committed to achieving peace and the sides hope that the exchange of letters between President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu will further this goal,” the statement said.

The envoy carried a letter from Netanyahu replying to one he received last month from Abbas, in which the Palestinian leader stated his grievances over the collapse of peace talks in 2010 and laid out his parameters for a resumption of negotiations.

Details of Netanyahu’s letter were not released, but Israeli officials said last week that they did not expect him to accept a key Palestinian demand to halt all settlement building in the occupied territories before reopening any talks.

Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian negotiator, said Abbas’s April letter was meant to challenge the Israeli leader over the collapse of the peace process and “put Mr Netanyahu on the spot.”